As I was uploading photos to our Sports and Recreation in Schenectady collection on New York Heritage, I noticed that
there were quite a few unlabeled photos of boxers, baseball players, and musicians in these collections. The unlabeled photos in this collection led me
to post a photo of an unknown boxer to Schenectady County Historical Society’s
Facebook page to see if the collective wisdom of our followers on Facebook
would be able to identify him. Sure enough, they were able to! We will be
posting unlabeled and unidentified photos to an album on our Facebook page
periodically for assistance in identifying people, stores, locations,
buildings, and pretty much any other info that can be provided. Any information
you all can provide would be greatly appreciated. You can find the album at this link.

This leads to our current series
of blog posts. While digging up some information on some of the photos of
boxers in that collection we noticed some photos of two Schenectady boxers Abe
Feldman and Marty Servo. Servo was a champion welterweight who fought two
matches against Sugar Ray Robinson. Feldman was a local pug who had quite a
career and fought the likes of Jim “Cinderella Man” Braddock, Maxie Rosenbloom,
John Henry Lewis, and other boxing greats of the 1930s. This post will focus on
the life of Abe Feldman.

Abe Feldman was born in 1912 in
Salt Lake City, Utah but moved to Schenectady at the age of six with his
parents, sister and three brothers. Both Abe and his brother Jack liked to
fight, and would often fight in the streets of Schenectady while people would
throw pennies at them. In addition to boxing, Abe played running back for
Schenectady High School’s football team. His skill in boxing and football was
rewarded with an athletic scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. Abe
turned the scholarship down and decided to go pro. According to a 2005
Schenectady Gazette article by Jeff Wilkin, Feldman said that “I probably
wouldn’t have learned much at college anyway and look at the fun I’ve had as a
professional pug.”

Article from the Albany Times Union about Abe Feldman's discovery. Abe's
Schenectady origins were often downplayed. Courtesy of Fulton History.

Feldman started his pro boxing
career as a light-heavyweight in 1932 with his first match against Julius Vigh
in Brooklyn. “Honest Abe” as Feldman was sometimes called soundly beat Vigh and
his next 15 opponents, going undefeated until his match against Charley Massera
in 1933. Feldman would fight Jim Braddock a few months afterwards. This fight
was depicted in the 2005 film Cinderella Man. Braddock broke his hand in three
places on Feldman’s jaw and the fight was called off. This fight almost ended
Braddock’s boxing career as it was the third time he broke it. Later on, Abe
mentioned that he knew that Braddock was injured and went easy on him till the
ref called the match off.

Abe’s biggest match was against
John Henry Lewis in 1935. Lewis was coming off of a loss from Maxie Rosenbloom
and he didn’t have much luck against Feldman either. The fight went ten rounds
and Feldman won on points. The win made Abe the second ranking light
heavyweight which was the highest ranking he would achieve. Unfortunately, he
was never given a title shot.During the
fight, Abe injured Lewis’ eye. Lewis was able to hide this injury for four
years when it was determined that the vision in his left eye was “almost nil.”
Despite being blind in one eye Lewis would go on to defeat Bob Olin later on in
1935 for the World Light Heavyweight Championship.

﻿

"Two-Ton" Tony Galento was rarely seen without
his cigar. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Feldman wasn’t afraid of punching
above his weight class and often took on heavyweights like “Two Ton” Tony Galento.
Galento’s nickname didn’t come from his weight (although he usually weighed
around 235-240 lbs.) but from an excuse that he gave to his manager as to why
he was late for a match. “I had two tons of ice to deliver on my way here.” Galento
was a larger than life figure in boxing who notoriously wrestled an octopus, and
boxed a kangaroo and a bear on separate occasions to draw attention. A typical meal for Galento was
six chickens, spaghetti and a half gallon of red wine, or beer, or sometimes
both. According to Galento all other fighters were bums and what did Galento promise
to do to bums? “Moider dem."

The fight occurred towards the end of Feldman’s
career and reporters wrote that Feldman looked like he had been exhumed from
the grave. Feldman took quite a beating from Galento, who despite his antics, could
actually fight and had a wicked left hook.Feldman was knocked down
3 times by the second round and after 30 seconds in the third, Galento
delivered a wicked body blow that sank Feldman to his knees. The ref called the
fight and Galento went on to challenge Joe Louis for the Heavyweight
Championship. Later on, Abe would describe Galento as “the hardest puncher I
ever faced.”

Feldman decided to end his career
shortly after his match with Galento 1939 when he “started to duck a little too
late.” His professional record was 35 wins, 14 losses, and 5 draws. He had 14
knockouts and was only KO’d twice. Feldman retired to live at his house on
Pennsylvania Avenue in Schenectady with his wife Sadie and son Howard. He
joined his brothers Jack, Leo and Dave in the coal business and worked as a
coal salesman. Abe Feldman died at the age of 67 on June 20, 1980 and is buried
in the Congregation Agudat Achim cemetery. He was honored in Schenectady throughout his life and often spoke at dinners and other sporting events
where he was almost as entertaining as he was in the ring.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

We asked ourselves this question last
year, as we began putting together the grant proposal for our “Vote Here! Vote
Now!” project. How do we tell the story of politics in Schenectady, especially
during such a major year in national politics? How can we take the enormous,
complex, and sometimes controversial political history of Schenectady, and make
it an engaging, vibrant narrative?

We thought about this, and came up with a list (you wouldn’t
believe how long) of possibilities. Exhibits, speakers, events, games, and
more. Many of these we flushed out, and developed into programs you’ll see this
year at 32 Washington and Mabee Farm. But then we realized something that
changed our approach to the project. The story of politics – in Schenectady and
beyond – isn’t one, linear, objective story. It is instead a tale formed by
opinions, ideals, and the voices of thousands of Schenectadians. And the best
way to dig into this history is to go to the source – the primary sources, let
them speak for themselves, and then encourage our visitors speak to each other
about their own political opinions.

Though we have excellent primary political sources in the
library and archives, as we began this project, our tangible collections in the
museum were lacking. Sure, we could examine scrapbooks from socialist mayors
(looking at you, George Lunn), pour over the records of the Dialogue Café (donuts
with your discourse, anyone?), and discover the insecurities of Governor Joseph
A. Yates in his letters from friends. Yet, something tangible to hold, display,
and to inspire dialogue was missing. And then, serendipity struck!

As we were developing this project, Donald Ackerman, the longtime
leader of the Schenectady County Democratic Party and a former county
legislator, reached out to us. He had a large collection of political
memorabilia, and wondered if we interested in acquiring it. Hundreds of buttons,
bumper stickers, signs, and more needed a new home. Ackerman’s collection was
unparalleled, made up of everything from matching Roosevelt and Hoover license
plates to a Mayor Stratton bobblehead.Here
was our story, we realized. Centuries of political history documented in our
archives, and then brought to life through our new Ackerman political
collection. The perfect collaboration between our sites.

So we displayed
our story. It’s on view now at the Schenectady History Museum at 32 Washington
Ave. We selected a variety of pieces from Ackerman’s collection and on loan
from the Schoharie County Historical Society to help us visually narrate
politics, campaigns, and democracy in Schenectady and beyond. The artifacts are
colorful and vibrant. They make you think about the tactics politicians use to
shape our opinions of them, and the way campaigns play out. And, hopefully,
they encourage you to consider your own opinions and those of your community
members, as we move through another messy campaign season!

Included on display are artifacts that document just how complicated
politics and campaigns can be. Take, for example, the election of 1840, one of
the first truly messy ones in American history.

President Martin Van Buren
narrowly defeated by William Henry Harrison, running on the Democratic and Whig
Party lines, respectively. Van Buren’s first term had been plagued by an
economic depression, and the campaign of 1840 saw him branded as a wealthy,
out-of-touch snob. Meanwhile, this was the first time that the Whig Party had
coalesced its full support behind a single candidate. Harrison was also wealthy
and well-educated, but he was a war hero and enjoyed wide popularity as a
result.

Harrison was also the oldest
President up to that time, and Democrats mocked him for this; one newspaper
quipped that if given a barrel of hard cider and a pension, he would “sit the
remainder of his days in his log cabin”. The Whigs co-opted this detraction,
however, declaring Harrison the “log cabin and hard cider candidate”, a moniker
that swept the nation and gave him an image as a man of the common people. Log
cabin dances were held in support of his campaign, miniature log cabins were
built, and even jewelry was designed around the theme. Harrison was able to
ride this image to victory, along with disapproval of Van Buren due to the poor
economy.

How politicians speak to us through their campaigns is just
as relevant today as it was in the 1840s. Consider what words politicians say
-- or don't say -- to swing our votes in their favor. Do they use simple
language, or are they verbose? What about rhyme and repetition? Are politicians
vague or specific? At times, politicians use a bit of all of these. Carefully
crafted campaigns strategize and determine which voice to use, and when. It’s our hope that, as we move toward November, that
participants in the “Vote Here! Vote Now!” project will be inspired to engage
in political discourse, consider campaign tactics, and voice their opinions.
And, if our participants elect to elect, that they consider the options. It’s
important to speak out, to make your voice heard, and to vote. But it’s also
important to understand, completely, what the issues areFortunately, there are many nonpartisan organizations and
websites that can help determine which candidate represents your voice best.
Locally, the Schenectady League of Women Voters runs vote411.org, which
publishes voting guides to candidates. Other sites, such as isidewith.com can
help you determine which candidate is most closely aligned with your ideology.

Your vote is your voice. This election season we’re choosing
state and national leaders, whose decisions and policy will have great effect
on our lives as Americans. Why not take a stand voice your opinion?